LOUISA, Ky. — All regular business was approved–minutes, reading of budget amendment, treasurer’s request, bills. Treasurer’s report was accepted at the October meeting of the Lawrence County Fiscal Court this week..
The bid on bridges was awarded to E&E Construction Co. for West Brown Road and Little Cat Fork.
Magistrates could not come to an agreement on a solution to damage being done by heavy trucks to county roads. Judge/Exec. John Osborne expressed how bad the roads are from heavy truck use, and that the coal severance money has diminished, and that a decision must be made.
Much of the damage is from locally owned logging trucks and at least two of the magistrates are involved in that business, Earl Boggs and Morris Howard. Both men say a bond required on logging trucks that would cover damages done would put many local small business owners at risk of going out of business.
Local trucks cannot be exempt under the law so if trucks from larger companies who are headquartered out of the county are taxed or required to post bonds, the local operators would, too.
Osborne re-appointed Angela McGuire to the Recreation Board and the court unanimously agreed.
The court also voted to advertise for bid on 2 old fire trucks for sale from Blaine Fire Dept.
Lawrence County is not the only county in Kentucky wrestling with a heavy truck ordinance. Below is an editorial from the Kentucky Standard in Nelson County that ran this week…
Loggers should pay for extra wear on roads
The Kentucky Standard
Much of Nelson County is rural, hilly country, with swift creeks running along the bases of the knobs, creating flood-prone areas subjected to heavy erosion. Also common in hilly areas is people living at the bases of the hills on the flatlands. County roads go along there, serving the people who live in these areas.
They’re not the most well-traveled of roads, and not always as well-maintained as residents would like. Unfortunately, these vital rural roads usually get short shrift, as larger roads along commercial corridors tend to get the most attention from state and local governments.
Nelson County Judge-Executive Dean Watts reported earlier this year that the county road system would receive less funding from two chief state sources for a shortfall of about $600,000.
The county got some of that back recently, but not in the way we would like it. The state recently awarded Nelson $197,500 to help repair road failures because of erosion and weakened hillsides, some of which, County Road Engineer Jim Lemiuex said, can be owed to logging operations in the rural parts of the county.
Watts suggests logging operations be bonded so that they are paying their fair share for usage of, and damage to, county roads, saying it’s not fair for taxpayers to have to foot that bill.
We are inclined to agree. Loggers, please pay your own freight. It’s not overregulation; it’s what’s fair.
